Riotus Rumours Run Round

Rumours run round Rhuthun/Ruthin like greyhounds chasing a rabbit around a racetrack. The apparent closure of Vale Carpets, Well Street, has stimulated such gossip, especially as proprietor Peter Collins is known for some outspoken comments... and his public support for Brexit.

So, what's happened?

Collins is moving next door, into Diva fashions & accessories. He and the Diva proprietrix are romantically linked, of course, and it's something of an open secret in Rhuthun that Vale Carpets cross-subsidises Diva. He has displaced Diva, which no longer trades.

Meanwhile, the rumours continue to suggest that Collins hasn't paid his rent to his landlord. The best we can say is that notices on the former Vale Carrpets' window suggest that there's been something of a dispute between Collins and the property-owner and that this resulted in repossession and the move next door. Collins has tried to hide the landlord's agent's notice (which, of course, is on the *inside* of the former Vale Carpets shop) but this isn't easy to do and the cover-ups keep getting exposed.

Locks changed

In spite of Collins's smaller shop front-of-house than previously, he is still better organised and laid-out than the chaotic competition diagonally across the street at Corwen Carpets.

UPDATE 5/11/16: meanwhile, as of Friday November 4th, there's something of a war of words between Collins and his Well Street competitor at the corner of Wynnstay Road. Corwen Carpets is offering free underlay and free fitting for Christmas. Without naming names, Collins, meanwhile, has rebutted this on Facebook by saying you don't get owt for nowt.

Is Collins being a little disingenuous, though? We all know that underlay and fitting isn't free but that doesn't stop a carpet retailer offering an equivalent discount... if you can accept the poorer quality underlay.